


Against the Bone

by h_nb



Series: Iva [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Amputation, Experiments, Fear, Fingore, Gore, Healing Powers, Lab Whump, Lab Whumpee, Lab setting, Panic, Surgery, Whump, Whumptober 2020, hopelessness, medical setting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:01:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27318925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/h_nb/pseuds/h_nb
Summary: Whumptober Day Thirty One: Experiment
Series: Iva [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1990072
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Against the Bone

Iva could always hear the sound of footsteps in the hallway before the door opened. It was a sound that automatically caused them to stop what they were doing and stare at the metal door, now locked with a scanner instead of a key after Iva's failed escape attempt. They stared, mind spinning in endless directions on what they would go through this time, as the door opened. 

Dr. Quinn stepped in, wearing a clean white lab coat that Iva knew would be covered in blood by the end of this ordeal. She barely spared Iva a glance before moving to the locked cabinets. "The table," she said simply, unlocking the glass cabinets that mocked Iva day and night with the display of scalpels and needles, vials of liquids and sharp bone saws, all locked just out of reach, constantly.

Iva stared at them sometimes, ideas coming to mind that they knew they'd never go through with, but they occasionally flitted through their mind nonetheless. They briefly looked at it again now, an uncomfortable shudder running down their spine as they saw Dr. Quinn take out the heavier saws, setting them on the table as Iva laid their back down on the cold metal table. The familiar frigid feeling seeped into their skin, straight through the thin gown they had gotten used to wearing. Iva tensed their body against an involuntary shiver, sitting up slightly to watch Dr. Quinn prepare today's experiment.

The doctor walked over to the table, pulling Iva's left arm out from under them and strapping it to the table securely, at the upper arm, the elbow, and then the wrist. They were also strapped down at their other wrist, and their ankles.

"You- don't have to, Dr. Quinn," Iva breathed, staring up at the ceiling, pushing down the fear and apprehension that always crept up on them when this started again. "I'm not- going to try and run. You know I won't."

"Your body is going to have adverse reactions to this pain, so I'm taking precautions."

The straps dug in, as they always did, and Iva knew they would leave marks for hours, even after the scars of what had happened disappeared. "Okay," they said, with only a little tremble in their voice. "What's-"

Their voice cut off in a sharp inhale as Dr. Quinn made sudden incisions along their finger, the digit exploding in sudden pain as Iva felt the skin split and the muscles around the bone snap and separate. Iva's breath became rattly and erratic as their body jerked in reaction without their control, legs straining against the table in an impossible effort to escape.

"Gauge your pain." Iva hated that phrase, hated knowing that this was the first of so many times tonight they would have to give a verbal answer to how their body felt as Iva tried to stop it from writhing in agony, already, and they had barely begun.

"Hh, I'm- it's- hurts- but- okay." Iva's lips trembled as they spoke, focusing as much as they could on continuing to breath. If they stayed awake, maybe this would be the only time they'd have to do this, and they'd get closer to the end. There had to be an end, right? There had to be a limit. There had to be.

The recorder clicked, and began to run again. "738665 shows an intense, but not panicked, response to the first incisions before amputation."

Before Iva could process that sentence, they felt the fire of exposed, frayed nerves burst in the hand as something snapped with a sudden crack, breaking the bone and separating something from them. Blood pooled underneath their hand, and Iva turned their head toward it, afraid of what they might see.

A choked sob left their mouth as they watched Dr. Quinn pick up their detached finger, looking at it curiously. 

"Please-" Iva whispered, jaw clenched to keep the screams -- _unnecessary noise, use your words, or we'll have to repeat this_ \-- from leaving their lips. "Hurts- so much more, why did you- no, nnh- not why, I know-- it hurts m-more, 's on fire, gonna lose blood, gonna-" The words coming from her mouth were growing nonsensical, blurred by a pain of haze they were fighting to get out of. 

There was a click as the recorder started again. "At first amputation, 738665 shows a more panicked response to the separation of a phalanx."

There was a pressure against the open wound, and then the pain faded in a cool flash, and Iva began to move their finger again. As the pain cleared from Iva's mind, the realization set in of how many more times Dr. Quinn was likely to repeat this. Still, they asked the question. "What- nnh, now?"

Iva turned to watch Dr. Quinn's hand hover over Iva's own, a firm look of concentration on her face as she twitched her hand, slightly.

Nausea turned in Iva's stomach and they could stop a strangled scream from jumping in their throat, interrupting Dr. Quinn's recording of the event as they watched their finger detach from their hand in the same way, separating from the rest of their body.

"Did that hurt more, or less?" 

Blood once again gushed from Iva's hand as they struggled to think of a response. 

"738665."

"M... more, it was more sudden, so it, hurts more, I think." They felt tears leaking from their eyes, blurring their vision.

"Subject shows a more adverse reaction to the amputation when abilities are used as opposed to surgical instruments. Further tests will be required on whether this is because of the duration of the amputation or that this is the second amputation." 

There was another sharp coolness, and Iva's body relaxed slightly as their finger reattached. "So... we're done for today?" they whispered, the barest shreds of hope in their voice. "We'll be back to it tomorrow?"

Dr. Quinn ignored them, and Iva felt the slice of a blade into the top of their wrist, once again cutting away the skin and muscles around it, fraying the nerves and sending shooting pain up their arm, causing Iva's whole body to writhe in place as they fought back another scream of pain.

When the stronger blade pressed against the bone, and began sawing at it, Iva couldn't hold back any longer. 


End file.
